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Mr Trump, who is expected to meet with Russian President Vladimir Putin at an Apec summit in Vietnam this weekend, appealed for help from Moscow, which also has economic ties with North Korea.

"I'm also calling on Russia to help rein in this potentially very tragic situation," he said.

Mr Trump earlier said he and Mr Xi believe there is a solution to the nuclear standoff.

He did not elaborate on what the solution might be but his administration believes that China's economic leverage over North Korea is the key to strong-arming Pyongyang into halting its nuclear weapons and missile programmes.